Don't Just Stand There

I recently read that you are a runner if you run. I know this sounds crazy; of course you are a runner if you run, but I have never considered myself a runner.  A couple times a week and every now and then, three times in a week, I run in my subdivision. Nothing big just zigzagging through the neighborhood, listening to predetermined running music (only in one ear for safety) and each time hoping to make it home. I don’t run to be a marathoner or to be in the Olympics I just run because it is a quick and easy way for me to get some exercise and get on with my day.

I have always thought of runners as elite athletes that have toned bodies and eat shrubbery to stay healthy. I have a middle age body that does not avoid many foods except fast food if possible. I have never shied away from anything sweet or a good glass of wine and yet I am a runner. How can this be that I am allowed to be in this group of athletes? I feel a little guilty like I might bring the whole group down.

I don’t have a plan to train for anything. I will run a 5K (3.2 miles) race here and there if someone asks me to, anything longer and I tend to get bored. I marvel at the athletes that can or even want to run a marathon (26 miles). Don’t they get bored or have to go potty? What keeps them going? Yet these exceptional runners kindly include my wimpy neighborhood prancing as part of their sport. The reason being…something is better than nothing and runners (or most runners) don’t judge, they are encouraging and supportive and happy to welcome anyone into the fold.

I recently read that the fact that you get up and go run makes you a runner. I did not have to take a test or run a certain distance, I just had to get up and go and now I am a runner. When I cannot run I walk. When I don’t want to do anything I don’t and no one stops by and yanks my membership card, because I am a runner.

I am telling you all this to encourage you to step out today and try something, anything and make yourself proud. Don’t stand there looking at whatever it is that you have wanted to do but thought you couldn’t. Don’t talk yourself out of trying the one thing you have always hoped you would do but have not. Please do not let your age, your life, your family or your lack of ability, convince you that you cannot do the one thing that lingers in the back of your mind. Once you step out and just try the “I can’t” falls away and you too will become what you did not think you were. Suddenly you are part of a bigger group that does what you do and proud of yourself to boot. So don’t just stand there, do something!